Getting my Ham Radio License

...of Limits conference he held court on some of my favorite forgotten ideas: appropriate technology, fraternal societies and Ham radio. A Ham himself, Greer recommended I read an amazingly odd book, Instruments of Amplification, which actually has directions for building your own transistors from junk. I’ll probably never get around to any of those projects, but I of A may be the ultimate DIY text. But I’m not just being contrarian. I’m looking forw...

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The Elysium Delusion

...rk with what we have. In my cranky opinion, the future is in down-to-earth appropriate technology, not space stations.We need to plant gardens here on earth not in the vacuum of space. I’ll note that the farms in these space colonies look an awful lot like the dystopian factory farms we have down on earth. And we should recognize the space station fantasy for what it is: a materialistic version of a heavenly afterlife, with scientists such as Hawk...

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Farm Hack

...the posts will be of interest to backyard gardeners. Recent subjects include a project to develop an infrared camera to monitor plant health, smartphone tools for farmers and open source appropriate technology resources. It’s exactly this kind of innovation that gives me great hope for the future. Thanks to Tommy Berbas for the tip....

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A viewing suggestion from the media arm of Root Simple

...reality show faux drama. Instead, it’s just full of juicy nuggets for the appropriate tech geek. The series is on YouTube. I pray the BBC doesn’t take it down before I get to finish it. In the first episode alone, they cover goodies like: Coppicing How to make two type of fences: a hazel wattle fence and a dead hedge fence, both of which can be made with a machete and a club Treadwheels: Giant human powered hamster wheels which, along with water...

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Time for some comments . . .

...st have a few posts about the Age of Limits conference and get back to the appropriate technology and home economics posts that are the norm at Root Simple. But, judging from the comments and emails we’ve been getting, it seems we’ve brought up a topic that needs deeper exploration, so we’re going to do a few more posts related to the Triple Headed Hydra of Despair: Climate Change, Economic Collapse and Peak Oil. Don’t worry about us becoming a do...

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